Ford Fiesta RS Turbo

...The car handles well as ford worked over the suspension on the RS Turbo meaning when it left the factory it sat 25mm closer to the tarmac due to shortened shocks and revised spring rating, at also had the addition of a rear anti roll bar, which was only on the rs turbos. As standard the shocks are gas filled as opposed to oil filled like the rest of the mk3 range. The front setup uses McPhearson struts , a front anti roll bar, and a lower suspension ...
...20mm anti roll bar.

In Standard guise from the factory you got the following:

1596cc turbocharged CVH engine using a Garrett Air Research T2 turbocharger
Revised and uprated suspension for the RS Turbo
A redesigned vented bonnet
A redesigned rooftip spoiler
14" 3 spoke alloys
A Recaro interior
Leather trimmed steering wheel
Leather Trimmed gearknob
Rear opening ... more

One of the best hot hatchbacks ever made, and in over 15 years has not been bettered by ford.
These cars are very rare with only 4500 ever being made, now not even a quarter of these remain. Due to this they have a huge following and fan base with several dedicated forums devoted to these cars.
They are highly tuneable with a wealth of off the shelf parts available ranging from exhausts and air filters to full race/rally specification engine internals and management upgrades.
As a car they are very underrated with very few people actually realising just what they are and what they are capable of! I have seen several of these cars take on claimed road going rally cars and come off a lot better.
As with most fords they are usually modified but in these cars case they are often kept very standard looking on the outside with only a set of alloys and a large exhaust hinting that there might be something more. Easily tuned to high bhp levels, 200bhp and equal torque is now not uncommon.
Unfortunately these cars have been given a high insurance group of 15 which deters a lot of people, but it does mean that they are generally owned by true enthusiasts who keep them in very good condition. Although as with all fords they have a tendency to rust, the common places are around the filler cap and on the sills and rear arches, all of these can easily be repaired by a good quality body repair shop for reasonable prices.
With them being a rare model some of the parts are now becoming harder to source but generally all parts are readily available although more expensive than standard fiesta parts.
If you are looking for a fun, quick car, one of these is for you,
I can 100% say every time I drive mine it leaves a smile on my face.
There are a lot of rumours floating about that these cars are highly unreliable but I have found these to be untrue, in the time I have owned mine it has never missed a beat with only commonly serviced parts needing replacing, although it does have an appetite for tyres when driven to its full potential.

The price of theses cars vary depending on general condition and if any modifications have been carried out. but as a rough guide line very poor models can be picked up from £500 but from experience if you buy the cheapest you will end up having problems with near enough anything as these cars have usually been thrashed and poorly serviced as a rule, although there are always bargains out there. Prices can also be as high a £6,000-£7,000 for ex magazinge cover cars and very highly modified examples.

Fuel consumption on these car is not amazingly high usually about the 25 miles to the gallon. although a lot depends on the condition of the engien and how its driven but as a figure this is generally found to be an average one.

The car handles well as ford worked over the suspension on the RS Turbo meaning when it left the factory it sat 25mm closer to the tarmac due to shortened shocks and revised spring rating, at also had the addition of a rear anti roll bar, which was only on the rs turbos. As standard the shocks are gas filled as opposed to oil filled like the rest of the mk3 range. The front setup uses McPhearson struts , a front anti roll bar, and a lower suspension crossmember and the rear uses a fixed rear beam, with 20mm anti roll bar.

In Standard guise from the factory you got the following:

1596cc turbocharged CVH engine using a Garrett Air Research T2 turbocharger
Revised and uprated suspension for the RS Turbo
A redesigned vented bonnet
A redesigned rooftip spoiler
14" 3 spoke alloys
A Recaro interior
Leather trimmed steering wheel
Leather Trimmed gearknob
Rear opening windows
Boot release
Electric Windows
Central Locking
Front and rear foglights
Front and rear heated screens

Optional Extras were:

RS Accesories lower spoiler
Anti locking brakes
Factory Fitted Alarm
RS Accesories Front bumper
RS Accesories Rear Bumper
RS Accesories Sideskirts
RS Accesories Rear Light Clusters

The choice of production colours were:

Radiant Red
Diamond White
Mercury Grey
A1 Black
and a limited run of 50 in Moondust Silver

CheeRS for reading.
 

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